The Spanish were the first Europeans to explore the area in 1791. In Spanish maps, the Englishman River is called "Rio de Grullas," (River of Cranes, i.e. herons) while French Creek is named "Punta de Leonardo." The first European settler in the Parksville area was John Hirst, who pre-empted 120 hectares (1.2 km² or 300 acres) of land on both sides of the Englishman River in 1873. Parksville was named after the area's first postmaster, Nelson Park, in 1877. The Village of Parksville was incorporated June 19, 1945. Parksville became a town on April 1, 1978, and a city on June 1, 1981. Much of the city's economy is tourism. Two gently sloping sandy beaches, Parksville Beach and Rathtrevor Beach (part of Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park), have been the town's main attractions. Other important industries are fishing, forestry, and service enterprises. Parksville's best-known annual event, since 1982, is a sandcastle-building competition in the summer. Qualicum Beach is a town in the Regional District of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2006 census, the town had 8,502 people. On the Strait of Georgia on the north-eastern coast of Vancouver Island in the shadow of Mount Arrowsmith, the community has been a popular tourist destination, being near Victoria and Vancouver, as well as a retirement community. It is served by the Island Highway (the main northwest-southeast highway on the island), a daily train, an airport, and a nearby ferry to Lasqueti Island. The community is dotted with rental cottages along the coast. Qualicum Beach, an attractive seaside town on the east coast of Vancouver Island, began as a lumbering, summer resort and retirement area. The community is sometimes called "Qualicum" for short. The name "Qualicum" comes from a Coast Salish term that means "where the dog salmon run." In May 1856, Hudson's Bay Company explorer Adam Grant Horne, with a group of aboriginal guides, found a land route across Vancouver Island from the Qualicum River to the Alberni Inlet.[2] He also discovered the Haida massacre of local Salish natives. Horne Lake is named after him. Doukhobor settlers established a communal colony in the adjoining Hilliers farming district from 1946 to 1952. Qualicum Beach was officially incorporated as a village on May 5, 1942, and was changed to town status on January 7, 1983. The area is growing quickly with new housing subdivisions and a major new highway. It is a favoured retirement and golfing community. HMS Qualicum was a ship in the Royal Navy named for the community. The town is 12.45 square kilometres (4.8 sq mi) as of 2001. (Statistics Canada) Qualicum Beach is on the Nanaimo lowlands, a narrow plain which lies between the Georgia Basin to the north-east and the Vancouver Island Ranges to the south-west. Landforms were significantly changed by the most recent advance of glacial ice about 18,000 to 19,000 years ago.
With the longest freeze-free period in Canada, at 180 days per year, the Nanaimo lowlands area is favourable for agriculture. The area is within the small Coastal Douglas Fir bio-geographic zone, which is considered the mildest climate in Canada. The Vancouver Island Ranges, which includes nearby Mount Arrowsmith, shadows rainfall. This bio-geographic area can support Garry Oak and Arbutus, which do not exist elsewhere in Canada. |
Parksville is a city on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. Dubbed by some the Jewel of Vancouver Island, it is on Highway 19A, 37 kilometres north-west of Nanaimo, and 7 kilometres south-east of Qualicum Beach, between Englishman River and French Creek. As of the 2006 Census, Parksville's population was 10,993.
The area has cool, wet winters with 80 to 85% of the year's precipitation between October and April. The average annual precipitation is 131 centimetres (51.6 in). Mean daily temperature ranges from 1 to 3 °C (34 to 37 °F) in January, with cloud and rain from north Pacific air masses dominating the winter weather. High pressure ridges over the mainland can block easterly air flows, bringing snow and freezing temperatures during winter but do not persist, as moist westerly winds bring above-freezing temperatures. North Pacific high pressure cells influence summer weather, making it warm, dry and cloudless. July and August have mean precipitation of 17 millimetres (0.7 in) and mean maximum temperatures of 25 °C (77 °F). Although winter precipitation results in much moisture at the start of the growing season, summer, particularly July and August, are drought prone.
